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The introduction of the denarius system during the Second Punic War represents a major step in the monetization of the Roman world. The following century saw a great influx of wealth and growth of the urban population on the Italian peninsula. This chapter analyzes how the introduction of the denarius system and its subsequent development reflect and constitute important developments in Rome’s political culture, focusing on two main changes: the introduction of the denarius system itself, and the appearance of private denarius types in the 130s, which was accompanied by a decrease in bronze coinage production. Two main questions are investigated. First, what do the coins tell us about political decision-making processes, and the way coinage helped to define the res publica? Second, who was the audience for the messages on the coins, and how do they relate to the Roman political body? The introduction of a fixed “state emblem” on the denarius coinage was an innovative move away from previous coin-producing practices, and can be read in relation to the conscious development of a Roman civic identity. The change to private types implies a decrease in the importance of Roman civic identity as communicated on coins, and more attention for the families and individuals that constitute Rome as a political entity. This change was restricted to silver coins, however. The bronze coins tell a different story: the Roman types stay the same, but production decreases, while a variety of local productions on the Italian peninsula are widely used.

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In ancient studies, money, and especially coinage, has been predominantly associated with the state, in theoretical opposition to the market. In this paper, we argue that a strong focus on the state as a context for the appearance of early money may obscure our understanding of the range of different ways, in which money as an innovation, could be anchored and socially embedded. This is illustrated by two case studies. In the Iron Age eastern Mediterranean, it was the collapse of state control and its effects on trade networks at the end of the LBA, rather than a process of state formation, that led to a proliferation of the use of (precious) metal as a means of exchange. In early Roman Italy, the adoption of coinage was not so much a result of internal developments in the Roman state, but rather a way to facilitate interaction with others on the Italian peninsula.

Brief overview in Italian of recent and ongoing fieldwork projects (survey, excavation, prospection) in ancient Samnium, modern Molise, including the Tappino Valley (Campobasso area), the territory of ancient Aesernia (modern Isernia), and the territory of ancient Larinum (modern Larino).